Climate’s brewing heavier rains; can low-impact development help lessen the effects?

This is the kinda thing you get when this is carried to an extremeMeryl Schenker/P-I

Washington appears to be way ahead of the curve on requiring the use of low-impact building techniques to control pollution by stormwater, according to what I’m hearing from observers around the country. They’re reacting to my story on Saturday explaining that Washington’s Pollution Control Hearing Board issued a landmark ruling requiring the use of these methods to help stop pollution that scientists say is the biggest future pollution threat to Puget Sound.

It’s an example of the kinds of adaptation we’re likely to have to undertake as climate change progresses, if this new study is to be believed. (Sorry, only the abstract is availale gratis.) In it, scientists say that climate models appear to be underestimating the degree to which warming will increase the really heavy rains that cause flooding:

These observations reveal a distinct link between rainfall extremes and temperature, with heavy rain events increasing during warm periods and decreasing during cold periods. Furthermore, the observed amplification of rainfall extremes is found to be larger than predicted by models, implying that projections of future changes in rainfall extremes due to anthropogenic global warming may be underestimated.

Here is a USA Today story on the study, although it’s not too much longer than the abstract itself. ;>)

For something much more in depth, sink your teeth into this groundbreaking article by Laura Funkhouser that appeared last year in the journal Stormwater. It argues that the so-called “design storm” that has ruled stormwater regulation for so long is probably going out the window as climate change progresses.

Funkhouser also works hard on each year’s Stormcon, the professional meeting of folks in the stormwater business, which we covered briefly when they came to Seattle a few years ago.

She reports that at the most recent edition of Stormcon, low-impact development continued to be all the rage, with 24 presentations on the topic from 19 states. One was by Seattle Public Utilities, regarding what it costs to maintain low-impact features, and one came from a Federal Way consultant on using low-impact techniques in industrial settings.

Update 5:18 p.m.: If you’re interested in buying a CD-ROM with this year’s Stormcon papers on it, go here.